You ordered the correct battery. The on-line version of the manual, however, incorrectly specifies a no-longer-manufactured battery (PS-490), which I ordered initially before discovering that it - and the original battery - did not look at all alike. And now I cannot return the PS-490. Oh well.
As for alternatives, I am not aware of any transimpedance phono stage remotely close to the Lino C 3.3 in performance and also in its price range. With Channel D’s future unclear, I have replaced my non-functioning Lino C 3.3 with the Sutherland Dos Locos, which so far sounds at least as good as the Lino C 3.3 (though for various reasons I have not had much opportunity yet to listen to the Dos Locos).
Played through the Dos Locos, one LP (actually a box set) that I know well - the 45 RPM Analogue Productions reissue of Janos Starker playing the Bach solo cello suites on the Mercury label - sounded much, much better than I have ever heard it before. The differences favoring the Dos Locos were palpable and not subtle. The Dos Locos has a vanishingly low noise floor (like the Lino C 3.3), and it reads information in the grooves (Starker’s breathing, the impact of the bow on the strings, etc.) that before were not resolved as clearly. The low noise floor helps those details to emerge. Equally if not more important was how the Dos Locos performed in terms of timbre and tonality. Starker’s cello had a richer, deeper resonance than I recall hearing before - very lifelike and immediate. Transients also were noticeably sharper and quicker, and one could “see” the recording space around him. I highly recommend consideration of the Dos Locos, despite the price. One caveat: Ron Sutherland eschews complexity in designing his products and focuses on the simplest circuit designs. As such, there is no mono button (there’s no need because mono cartridges play beautifully through one of the two monoblocks), no high pass (rumble) filter for warped records, and no phase reversal button. But those in my opinion are small prices to pay.
Like you, my tonearm cable is balanced. But it has a separate ground wire that attaches to the ground screw on the Dos Locos chassis, and I am using XLR to RCA adapters that do not commingle the signal conductors with any ground. The adapters have worked seamlessly. You’re right about it requiring two AC cables, and I have made another (unexpected) investment in not cheap AC cables that should do a better job in delivering current and not picking up EMF/RFI than the stock cables.
And other than the Dos Locos, the next stop on the train line (for a transimpedance phono stage of comparable quality) may be the significantly more expensive (and more complex) CH Precision phono stages, which I understand can seem dry and thin if not matched properly with other components. PS Audio just introduced a new phono stage that has transimpedance capabiility (the PMG Signature phono stage), but it’s close to the Dos Locos in price. And I don’t know how it sounds.
Good luck in your search for a new phono stage if replacing the battery doesn’t cure whatever problem you’re having with the Lino C 3.3.
